Laparoscopic Treatment of Small Bowel Phytobezoar Obstruction

Abstract

An intestinal bezoar causing obstruction is usually treated by an open approach, either with manual mechanical fragmentation or with enterotomy and removal of the bezoar. In this article, we report the minimally invasive surgical management of a 59-year-old man in whom a bezoar obstructing the small intestine developed at the site of an adhesion from a previous gastric surgery. The bezoar was laparoscopically broken down and milked through the ileocecal valve. In the future, the laparoscopic approach may be the treatment of choice for patients with a bezoar when surgery is indicated.